.XXX Domain Ads: “Can You Afford Not To?”

Last month The Fearless Group released some video spots advertising the .XXX domains now available. They feature Vice Magazine founder Gavin McInnes and this spot has him making it rain with, I guess, the money he saved? It’s sort of like a porny Geico ad.

Here’s the message at the end of the ad (and the two other spots):

“Can you afford not to?” indeed. As Trixie pointed out here back in March, the availability of the domain amounts to a shakedown for webmasters and independent pornographers since if you don’t shell out for your .com in .xxx form, you risk others doing so and hijacking your potential customers. The language used couldn’t be clearer. If you go to GoDaddy to register your domain, you see this:

That sounds . . . threatening! “It’d be a shame if anything happened to your pretty little brand.” Luckily, for (at least) $99 annually, you can protect your brand name (Amazon.xxx, anyone?). And that’s the cheapest option. If you want to get in the priority line, expect to shell out $199 or more. I don’t think we’re buying one for Tits and Sass, so cross your fingers that they don’t eventually try to make .xxx a red light district to which all adult content gets pushed.

And while we’re talking about McInnes, I’d like to leave you with this classic bit of stripper impersonation.